Norris takes utterly dominant victory at Singaporean Grand Prix
Lando Norris put in a nearly perfect weekend and led the Singaporean Grand Prix from start to finish following a strong start from pole. Max Verstappen finished second but was never really in contention for victory as Piastri completed the party for McLaren.
At Singapore, Lando Norris started once more from pole position, but some tension was certainly there given the McLaren driver had so far not managed to convert this pole to a leading position into the first corner. This time it was Verstappen who looked to take the lead from second while eyes were also on Hamilton from third as he started on softs compared to medium tyres for most others as the front.
When the lights went out both Norris and Hamilton enjoyed a strong getaway but Hamilton's challenge was quickly chopped off by Verstappen who chose Norris' line into Turn 1, quickly realising he wouldn't be able to take first place away from the McLaren.
Norris followed in 4th, ahead of Piastri, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Leclerc, Colapinto and Perez. Colapinto notably gained 4 positions at the start whereas Sainz lost three, down into 12th. In the back, Stroll had some front brake issue during the warm-up laps and ran 18th on his hard tyres after lap 1, ahead only of the two Sauber cars, also on hard.
Apart from some overtakes in the first lap it was a story of following and trying to stay closse to the car ahead for most. In front, Norris and Verstappen exchanged fastest laps, triggering Russell to say that Hamilton had to up his pace to not lose touch with the leaders. But the reality is that gaps remained small almost across the entire field.
On lap 8 though Norris is asked to try to enlarge the advantage to Verstappen to about 5 seconds by lap 15, and sure enough, the Briton upped the pace and went around a full second quicker than Verstappen. Degradation seemed to start to play a big role with Norris holding a 5s gap on lap 10 and another extra 5 to Hamilton. Russell and Piastri meanwhile remained close to Hamilton but not close enough to challenge for third place.
At some distance another trio formed with Hulkenberg seemingly holding up Alonso and Leclerc.
Meanwhile Ricciardo became the first drive to stop, exchanging his set of soft tyres to fresh mediums. Williams' Albon pitted one lap later and returned to the track in 19th, ahead of Ricciardo and 13 seconds behind Bottas.
Sainz pitted two laps later, from 12th. He took on hard tyres and came back on track only just ahead of Albon. The latter soon afterwards slowed down and returned to the pits to retire with a technical issue.
Lap 18 was the moment for Hamilton to pit. He rejoined in 15th place on hard tyres, just ahead of Gasly.
By lap 20 Norris had further extended his lead to 14 seconds while Verstappen also pulled away from Russell, dropping the Mercedes by 11 seconds. Russell continued to be shadowed by Piastri while the Hulkenberg, Alonso, Leclerc trio were even closer. In fact, both Alonso and Leclerc at times had to back off a bit to manage brake temperatures, making it very dificult to really attempt to gain a position.
Colapinto followed a few seconds further behind and no longer had to worry about Perez with the latter dropping 4 seconds after trying to get past the Williams in the early part of the race. Tsunoda completed the top 10.
Hamilton meanwhile continued his climb through the field and moved past Ocon on lap 23 to take 11th place, on his way to challenge Tsunoda. Hamilton at the time had the same pace as Verstappen, Russell and Piastri.
On lao 26 Alonso pitted from 6th place, tired of being stuck behind Hulkenberg. The Spaniard got fresh hard tyres and rejoined 15th positon, just ahead of teammate Stroll who was still on his hards from the start. Stroll pitted one lap later to switch to medium tyres. The Canadian returned to the track dead last.
Russell pitted moments later, returning to the track 2 seconds ahead of Hamilton who had just passed Tsunoda. This move released Piastri who immediately was encouraged by his race engineer.
Leclerc meanwhile also got past Hulkenberg and quickly distanced the Haas driver. The move was crucial for the Ferrari driver as he ended up ahead of Verstappen when the Red Bull driver came out of the pits on lap 30. Verstappen cleared the Ferrari less than a lap later but still lost some time.
Despite the advantage, McLaren opted to pit Norris the next lap, enabling his to return to the track still in the lead, 3 seconds ahead of Piastri and 20 ahead of Verstappen. It appears that the pit stop decision may have been the result of some tyre damage after Norris locked up his front right that lap and had almost ended up in the wall.
Piastri and Leclerc were meanwhile going long on their first stint, perhaps hoping to benefit from a safety car that is never far away at Singapore. Leclerc however got company of Russell and had to defend, inevitably impacting the pace somewhat. The Monegasque eventually pitted on lap 37 and returned to the track only just ahead of Hulkenberg.
Piastri was then pitted one lap later, returning to the track behind the two Mercedes. The Australian of course enjoyed fresh hard tyres and a stronger car, enabling him to make a threat soon and a clean pass only a single lap later.
Next up was a bit of team order stuff with Tsunoda getting very angry with being stuck behind Ricciardo. After a series of bleeps, Ricciardo allowed Tsunoda past as soon as the latter was close enough to make a reasonable pass. Leclerc meanwhile was allowed to pass Sainz after he cleared Alonso and set the fastest lap to rapidly close in on his teammate.
Russell meanwhile was rejoined by his old shadow named Oscar Piastri. As Russell was warned of Leclerc closing in from behind, Piastri followed at less than half a second and looked ready to punch. Sure enough after two laps of chasing, Piastri took third place and quickly left the Mercedes behind.
As Leclerc closed in to Hamilton - passing him on lap 50 - and lost fastest lap to Norris, Alonso got company as Hulkenbeg and Perez appeared in his mirrors. Colapinto in the Williams closed in as well, albeit a few seconds behind.
At the same time Magnussen limped to the pits with a rear puncture. Haas sent him back out on the softest tyre compound available. It was a final attempt of dispair as two laps from the end Magnussen was told to box and retire the car.
Three laps from the end Leclerc's strong pace eventually brought him into striking distance to Russell. Leclerc put a lot of pressure on the Mercedes, leading Russell to push hard, including some serious bumping as he went wide in the last corner of lap 60.
Meanwhile Norris was comfortably on his way to dominantly win this Singaporean Grand Prix just as Ricciardo put in the fastest lap to steal fastest lap away from Norris, benefiting Red Bull's Max Verstappen who finished a distant second, probably the best he could have hoped for after another difficult series of free practice sessions. Oscar Piastri completed the podium and confirmed that the papaya orange McLarens are the new force in Formula One.
